'40 points? A Fair Marker For A Team Given 'No Chance'

Sean Dyche believes his players and staff have answered every question thrown at them this season to punch above their weight and set up a possible top-half finish in the Premier League.

The Clarets started the season among the favourites to be relegated straight back to the Championship for a third successive time as a top-flight club.

But despite operating with the lowest wage bill and one of the smaller squads in the division, Dyche’s men have secured their safety with two games to go – barring a 19-goal reversal in their goal difference - and could still end up as a top-10 team.

“It’s the wages that are the hardest challenge and adapting a club towards those wages, especially a club like this,” explained the Burnley boss.

“There are teams in this league who get players on free transfers and pay astronomical wages.

“Fees are not relevant really. We’re good on both. And that’s because we have to be. It’s the way this club has to work.

“We get on with it and we work hard to get what we can. We take some knocks along the way. There are some question marks about what we do and how we are trying to play etc.

The Clarets' 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion effectively secured their Premier League status

“But 40 points, for a team that was given absolutely zero chance of being in the Premier League?

“I think that’s a fair marker and we have two games left. And we will be going hard in those two games, because that’s what we do.”

The Clarets twice broke their transfer record last summer after clinching promotion from the Championship and further strengthened their squad in January with the signings of Robbie Brady and Ashley Westwood.

And Dyche believes those additions will bear even further fruit in the future as he thinks about planning ahead after the dust settles on an outstanding campaign.

The Burnley boss added: “We have even had a bit of money spent this year. It’s very difficult, the top level of football, without major finance.

“We have financed it to a reasonable degree for a club of this size – nowhere near everyone else.

“But that’s the challenge. We have managed to show a good account of ourselves this year.

“We have added to the squad. Those players will get more and more used to how we work and then we’ll take it forward as we can.”